Waning Sunlight
by Francis Uzzolina
Summary: Braking Dawn book 3 told from Alice's POV starting when she dropped the vase.
1. Vision

I dedicate this story to switzerland and the one who made me think of it. She's the one who's idea it was to upload it, so I dedicate it to her.

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Book 3 :(alice)

1. Vision

It was so utterly shocking that I lost myself for a fraction of a second. How could they be coming? And why? To any normal person the pause would have been unnoticeable, but Edward noticed. He didn't notice the pause so much as the thoughts, but he still sent a look in my direction.

The pause was not very long, but long enough for me to drop whatever I was holding. The flowers crashed to the floor scattering shards of glass across the room. Eight pairs of eyes were focused on me instantly. Vampires never dropped things on accident and they all knew that.

Everyone was still, no one dared to move. Another flash, the Volturi, all of them, the guard, the wives, even the ancients themselves, were coming. Edward gasped.

"_What?_" Jasper growled, suddenly at my side, glass crushing under his feet. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "_What Alice?_"

Emmet braced himself; teeth bared staring to the window, preparing himself for attack. Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie, and Bella were silent, all frozen from the shock.

Jasper shook me again "What _is_ it?"

"They're coming for us," Edward whispered with me, synchronized with my thoughts. "All of them."

There was complete silence.

"The Volturi," I moaned.

"All of them," Edward groaned.

"Why?" I whispered to myself. "How?"

"When?" Edward whispered.

"Why?" Esme croaked.

"_When?_" Jasper repeated, his voice cracking like ice.

I focused on the Volturi, my eyes going blank. I saw snow covering the forest, the town, everything. "Not long," Edward and I said together. "There's snow on the forest, snow on the town. A little more than a month." I said.

"Why?" Carlisle repeated for the third time.

"They must have a reason. Maybe to see…." Esme speculated.

"This isn't about Bella," I said. "They're all coming - Aro, Caius, Marcus, every member of the guard, even the wives."

"The wives never leave the tower," Jasper contradicted in a flat voice. "Never. Not during the southern rebellion. Not when the Romanians tried to overthrow them. Not even when they hunted the immortal children. Never."

"They're coming now." Edward whispered.

"But _why_?" Carlisle repeated a fourth time. "We've done nothing! And if we had what could we possibly do that would bring_ this_ down on us?"

"There are so many of us," Edward answered, his voice dull." They must want to make sure that…." His voice cut off.

"That doesn't answer the crucial question! Why?" Carlisle practically screamed.

I tried to focus on the why of the vision but I couldn't concentrate. "Go back, Alice," Jasper begged me. "Look for the trigger. Search."

I shook my head slowly. "It came out of nowhere Jazz. I wasn't looking for them, or even for us. I was just looking for Irina. She wasn't where I expected her to be…." I trailed off. I started searching for Irina again, frantic. When I found her I was shocked.

She was headed to the Volturi, she was almost there. But why? Why would Irina betray us? I had to tell the others. Now.

I jerked my head upright "She's decided to go to them," I said. "Irina decided to go to the Volturi. And then they will decide…. It's as if they're waiting for her. Like their decision was already made, and just waiting on her…."

There was a moment of silence as they tried to make sense of it.

"Can we stop her?" Jasper asked.

"There's no way. She's almost there."

"What is she doing?" Carlisle asked.

"Think of what she saw that afternoon," Bella said lowly interrupting Emmet as he tried to speak. "To someone who lost a mother because of the immortal children what would Renesmee look like?"

An immortal child! That would be something for the Volturi to fear, something for them to make an example of. But that still didn't explain that sense of finality, like they'd already made the decision.

"An immortal child," Carlisle whispered.

Edward fell to his knees, arms wrapped around Bella and Renesmee.

"But she's wrong," Bella continued. "Renesmee isn't like those other children. They were frozen, but she grows so much every day. They were out of control, but she never hurts Charlie or Sue or even shows them things that would upset them. She_ can_ control herself. She's already smarter than most adults. There would be no reason…."

While she babbled, I tried to figure out why I could see it before Irina told them; how they seemed to have made up they're mind before they were provided the choice.

Edward was the first to speak. "It's not the kind of crime they hold a trial for, love," he said quietly. "Aro's already seen Irina's _proof_ in her thoughts. They come to destroy, not to be reasoned with."

"But they're wrong," Bella persisted.

"They won't wait for us to show them that."

"What can we do?" she demanded.

"We fight," Emmet suggested.

"We can't win," Jasper growled suddenly protective.

"Well, we can't run. Not with Demetri around." Emmet made a noise of disgust at the thought of running away. "And I don't know that we _can't_ win," he said. "There are a few options to consider. We don't have to fight alone."

Bella snapped to attention. "We don't have to sentence the Quileutes to death, either, Emmet!"

"Chill, Bella." Emmet said his voice thrilled at the notion of a challenge. "I didn't mean the pack. Be realistic though- do you think Jacob or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn't about Nessie? Not to mention that, thanks to Irina, Aro knows about our alliance with the pack now, too. But I was thinking of our other friends."

Carlisle echoed Bella. "Other friends we don't have to sentence to death."

"Hey, we'll let them decide," Emmet said placating them. "I'm not saying they have to fight with us." He said while planning other ways of stopping them. "If they'd just stand beside us, just long enough to make the Volturi hesitate. Bella's right, after all. If we could force them to stop and listen. Though that might take away any reason for a fight…."

Emmet's idea was sound but it was missing one piece…. A piece that no one else could know about. Not if we were going to have any chance. Aro couldn't know about this, which means that I couldn't tell anyone but Jasper. Which also means I have to watch my thoughts as long as Edward is within range.

"Yes," Esme said, the hope back in her voice. "That makes sense, Emmet. All we need is for the Volturi to pause one moment. Just long enough to _listen_."

"We'd need quite a show of witnesses," Rosalie said, her voice fragile like ice.

Esme nodded ignoring Rosalie's sarcasm. "We can ask that much of our friends. Just to witness."

"We'd do it for them," Emmet said.

I could see their plan, but their was a darker side to it. What if the others took it wrongly like Irina did? They could end up making things ten times worse than it already is! I'll have to point that out to them sooner or later.

"We'll have to ask them just right," I murmured. Bella stole a glance at my dark eyes. "They'll have to be shown very carefully."

"Shown?" Jasper questioned.

Edward and I both glanced at Renesmee. "Tanya's family," I said. "Siobhan's coven. Amun's. Some of the nomads-Garret and Mary for sure. Maybe Alistair."

Jasper looked at me, his eyes pleading, "Peter and Charlotte?" he asked, I could hear the fear for his brother in his voice..

"Maybe," I replied.

"The Amazons?" Carlisle asked. "Kachiri, Zafrina, and Senna?"

I didn't think I could answer and still hide my thoughts abut Africa from Edward,

but I would have to try. "I can't see."

"What was that?" Edward demanded. "That part in the jungle. Are we going to look for them?"

"I can't see," I repeated. "We'll have to split up and hurry- before the snow sticks to the ground. We have to round up whomever we can and get them here to show them." I paused to search for anything to prepare us for negotiating with the Volturi. "Ask Eleazar. There is more to this than just an immortal child."

I searched for a long time letting the silence hang there. I wasn't very successful, just random bits and pieces, a flash here, a flash there.

I was the one to break the science, "There is so much. We have to hurry," I whispered.

"Alice?" Edward asked. "That was too fast- I didn't understand. What was-?"

"I CAN'T SEE!" I screamed, tired of his constant questioning. "Jacob's almost here!"

Rosalie started toward the door. "I'll deal with-"

"No, let him come," I said, straining my voice.

I grabbed Jasper's hand and started to the back door. "I'll see better away from Nessie, too. I need to go. I need to really concentrate. I need to see everything I can. I have to go. Come on, Jasper, there's no time to waste!"

The reason I was in such a rush was because I didn't want to have time to think about what I was doing. "Hurry" I called back as we were going out the door. "You have to find them all!"


	2. Departure

I told Jasper to stay where we were on the main trail while I made a quick stop at Bella's cottage. He agreed easily, knowing I must have some reason for it. I hurried down the path heading for the cottage.

When I got there I went to the bookshelf and grabbed a book off of it. "The Merchant from Venice" was the name of the book. I opened it to the copyright information, tore the page out and wrote "Don't look for us. There isn't time to waste. Remember: Tanya, Siobhan, Amun, Alistair, all the nomads you can find. We'll seek out Peter and Charlotte on our way. We're so sorry that we have to leave you this way, with no goodbyes or explanations. It's the only way for us. We love you."

I then wrote a message for Bella on the next page, it read: _Destroy this._

I wrote down the address of the man Jasper used for fake documents. I knew that if we failed then Bella would want there to be some way for Renesmee to escape. I'm sure she could find someone to take Renesmee if she died.

I returned to Jasper and we walked to the Quileute border. When Sam came to see why we had come we told him we needed to cross his land to get to the ocean. He agreed and escorted us on our way as soon as we got there I asked him if he could deliver my message to the others when they came looking for us. He agreed, but he was worried.

For a moment I doubted his trustworthiness, but he reassured me that he would wait for them. We left immediately swimming as fast as we could.

"Where are we going?" Jasper asked, his voice grave.

"First we find Peter and Charlotte." I said, not really thinking.

"Oh, I see." he said, his voice even deader than before. "North it is."

We traveled for many hours before we made land, it was almost dawn by the time we emerged from the water. We were both soaking wet, but it didn't bother us. We ran and it wasn't long until we arrived at a small wooden house in the middle of the forest.

There was a man standing on the porch, he was tall, with dirty blonde hair and deep burgundy eyes. "Jasper!" he yelled excited at the sight of his old brother. He jumped over the railing and to the ground, then ran to Jasper and gave him a bear hug.

"Peter." Jasper said, excitement leaking through his grave mood.

"It's been too long, old friend," he said. "Come in, we have much to talk about."

"That would be good, but we must hurry," he replied. "We must be on our way soon."

They both went inside and I waited patiently for Jasper to return. After about twenty minutes they both came back out onto the porch. "We'll explain when we return, I promise," he persuaded. "Trust me, brother."

"Alright, but I don't like all this secrecy." Peter said.

We went on our way after that parting with Peter and Charlotte and continuing on our way to our final destination, which Jasper needed to know soon.


End file.
